


a summer sort of salvation

by samarasharazi



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Baker Yukhei, Best Friends, Cars, Christmas, Christmas Dinner, Fluff and Angst, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Mark Lee Are Best Friends, M/M, Wedding Rings, boyfriends for lyfe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:28:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28383261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/samarasharazi/pseuds/samarasharazi
Summary: Bringing his boyfriend to his family Christmas dinner is not turning out the way Mark expected.A fucking engagement ring?!
Relationships: Mark Lee/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas
Comments: 7
Kudos: 91
Collections: NCTV Secret Santa 2020





	a summer sort of salvation

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Osaka_Prince_Yuta](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Osaka_Prince_Yuta/gifts).



> Hey guys, I'm so sorry I couldn't edit this much (and that its really bad lmao) '-' I didn't have any time just with everything happening, but hopefully its somewhat okay??
> 
> anyways, to my lovely person I picked: pls enjoy this prompt!! Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!!
> 
> anyways, I have links to spice up your lives hehe.
> 
> [the superleggera](https://www.astonmartin.com/en-GB/Models/dbs-superleggera)  
> [pinterest board](https://www.pinterest.com.au/samarashh13/a-summer-sort-of-salvation/)  
> pls don't forget to leave kudos and comments, they make me happy. bye!

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Te-

“Holy fucking shit!” Yukhei swears. He stares ahead of him, gawking his eyes out with his hands to his mouth, standing speechless. Mark giggles in his spot beside him and swings his hands around happily.

There, in front of them, stands the new car sitting in the driveway of their house topped with a bright yellow ribbon attached to the roof basically saying, ‘look at me, I’m fucking brand new!’.

“Merry Christmas!” Mark shouts and jumps in the air, once and twice all as Yukhei ogles at the shiny metal reflecting the bright sun.

Sleek, all black sports car with silver wheels. Aston Martin. It stares back them with a polished smile all for Yukhei, waiting to be driven at high speeds the police could only imagine.

It’s Yukhei’s dream car. And it seems to be his Christmas present. From the overly energetic boyfriend who has more money than he knows what to do with.

“Mark fucking Lee!” Yukhei screams, turning to his boyfriend instantly. There are tears hanging in his eyes, closer to dropping the more he approaches Mark. “I’m going to cry.”

Mark doesn’t process anything until strong arms wrap around him and there’s no where else to go but Yukhei’s strong chest that feels extremely warm from the sun hitting it for the past half hour. Still, it feels so good he hardly registers Yukhei brushing his hair behind his ears as he rests his head in the crook of his chest.

Yukhei’s warm lips brush against his ear when he lowers down to whisper, “I love it, thank you so much for this,” and he feels those butterflies again in his stomach. He’s felt them since the moment he fell for Yukhei.

“I love you,” Yukhei tells him and Mark’s entire body blushes under the attention, feeling hotter in Yukhei’s arms than he did the sun.

He hums to himself, falling forward further into Yukhei’s arms to hide himself in his shoulder. If Yukhei feels the smile against his shoulder, he doesn’t say anything.

“I love you too.”

It doesn’t take them ( _too)_ long to get ready for Mark’s parents house. At one point, Yukhei stands in front of the mirror, unable to decide which cotton button down looks best with the khaki shorts his mother had gifted him for his birthday at the start of the year. It’s way too hot to risk anything else and personally, the less Yukhei wears, the more Mark appreciates it.

“The salmon top,” he shouts when Yukhei comes to retry everything for the third time. Mark has to stop himself from rolling his eyes when he accidentally fumbles over one of the open draws and makes a huge ruckus while Mark styles his hair in the bathroom next to their dressing room.

Yukhei smiles and shouts a, “thanks, babe,” before going back to bothering himself for another ten minutes over how he should style his hair. Mark comes over then and smoothes down his boyfriend’s shaggy brown hair telling him that it’s too hot to maintain any other hairstyle anyway. It seems to calm down Yukhei enough.

While Mark goes back into their bedroom to gather all the presents for the children, Yukhei finishes dressing himself and grabs the Tupperware container with the cake he baked earlier in the day for the family. Mark comes out minutes later to find him sitting on one of the kitchen island seats, scrolling through his phone while he waits for Mark to finish. The new car keys sit on the marble next to him.

“First one to get to the car gets a kiss,” Mark proposes the challenge, surprising Yukhei to look up from his screen. His ears perk up at the sound of ‘kiss’.

Suddenly, Mark is left behind as Yukhei _sprints_ out of the house, keys and all. He’s left to lock up with a nervous giggle straining his voice, turning on the alarm on behind him.

That’s how Mark ends up pushed against the back of Yukhei’s Aston Martin with hands in his hair as Yukhei works his way between Mark’s legs, mouth gently attacking his with no care if kids walk past their driveway. Mark likes the way Yukhei has him pinned down against the car, large hands pulling the material of Mark’s thin silk shirt tight to the metal, creating handprints they could wipe away later. Right now, they’re too busy smiling into each other’s mouths to care about that.

Mark only pulls away when a text hits the back pocket of his jeans and startles Yukhei enough for the both of them to laugh.

“Come on, let's go.” Mark smiles and pats his butt once before going to open the passenger side. The smell of new leather hit his nostrils when he sits inside, and the world shifts a darker shade, but it’s nice. Watching Yukhei smile as he reclines his seat is nice too.

“You ready?” Yukhei asks him, looking Mark’s way. He nods.

“Yep.”

As they back out of their driveway slowly, Mark becomes acutely aware that Yukhei is nervous. It’s the way he keeps glancing from the street and back to Mark in a matter of seconds, how his fingers hit the wheel a little too quickly to be excitement. He looks on edge, and Mark feels a little too the same to comfort him.

Realistically, their loud suburb by the beach isn’t so far from his parents’ place. The thing that concerns him the most is the traffic. Put together all the factors of summer and the beach and Christmas Eve and the holidays for schools and Lunapark, and you have the worst case of Melbourne traffic. Going to Toorak from St. Kilda is entirely the worst kind of choice you could make.

They also have to make a stop in the city for the flowers Mark has ordered from his mother’s favourite florist, which is somewhere on Swanston St.

It’s something Yukhei likes to call a ‘head-in-hands’ situation.

Mark turns in the passenger seat, phone in his hand as he concentrates on connecting his phone to the bluetooth. “Babe, what you wanna listen to?” he asks because even though he knows Yukhei will choose Mark’s ‘driving’ playlist when they’re on the road, he always likes to ask anyway.

Yukhei smiles to him and relaxes a little more into the leather fixtures. “Can you put on your playlist, please?” he asks. “Skip to _‘Colours’_ , it’s my fave song.”

Mark laughs and the car lights up with sound for the first time, speakers from all sides spurring to life. Yukhei loves it.

“I know, gorgeous.”

The drive is simple. The engine purrs as they stay idle at stops and the sun reflects through the windows, warming their skin. Pedestrians don’t fail to look over at the car either as they laugh and walk with their friends. The world outside seems busy today.

Slowly, the palm trees and beachside restaurants become high rises and quaint cafes, Chinese and Korean and Japanese then Italian and Greek and Thai restaurants line against each other on different but equally busy roads. Yukhei has to drop Mark off at one point and drive around a lap instead of parking so they don’t have to pay, and by the time he comes back, Mark has the lovely selection of azaleas in his hand ready to hop back into the car.

Yukhei drives away again.

After they pick up the flowers, all the busy streets fades away into smaller streets and greener trees, big properties and old looking buildings. It rattles Mark, knowing full well what’s waiting for him on the other side.

Mark’s parents know that he’s gay. Well, not _gay,_ but definitely dating a man. One he absolutely adores. They know all that. But no matter how much someone knows of something, it all translates differently when you have to meet it face to face and deal with the consequences. And there are way too many consequences of dating someone of the same sex coming from a traditional Asian family.

Of course, he hasn’t told any of this to Yukhei. If he did, they’d probably have had to cancel a long time ago. Or maybe never accepted the invitation in the first place. He’s already anxious enough about meeting his family as it is, Mark can imagine how he’d react if he finds out that they could potentially hate him for him not being a _girl_.

The GPS tells them they’re only seven-hundred metres away when Mark looks up and takes in the area around him. Yukhei seems to take notice of this too and holds out a calloused hand for him to take. Their fingers lay entwined over the controls.

“Smile a little,” he says, but keeps his face looking forward onto the road.

Mark startles when he realises he’s frowning into the window, watching as all the trees pass them one by one. The cars parked on the sides are just as expensive as the one they drive in, but they come in all sorts of colours and brands, whatever to match each family or person’s taste. A personality to fit each luxury car. And nice houses to match.

Mark is privileged in a way where he was raised by immigrant parents who had sacrificed most of their years to build up most of what they have now, all so they could give their children the lives they never had. It really is just standard sentiment, the poor immigrant family who became rich with new money just for their kids, but it worked for them.

Then one day, he fell in love with a boy and suddenly it didn’t work so much anymore. Mark remembers those days where he’d come home from uni blushing about what Yukhei would say to him that day, fantasising about a life with a person he never thought once he’d ever want to be with. It was all so daunting and hard to be admit. He started wanting different things for himself, things that didn’t have him living under his family’s guard anymore.

_“Your destination is on your left.”_

Mark’s childhood home stands as grandly as it did all those years ago. It’s a mesmerising sight to behold even as Yukhei pitches the car into the driveway and winds down his window to ring the buzzer. It’s just them facing the black gate waiting to be let in. He sits back, shaking his leg up and down, and waits.

After a few seconds, the buzzer rings again and slowly, with the heavy sound of gears running, the gate slides open for them.

A squeeze comes to Mark’s hand when the engine roars again and the car slowly rolls into the large parking lawn behind all the already parked cars. Yukhei has to navigate the car to find a space where he can properly park without being in the way of the other cars while Mark recognises his uncle’s BMW and his brother’s Mercedes, his cousin’s Mustang. And here they are, about to fit right in.

The moment the car finally stops rolling and he puts the gear in parking, Yukhei turns to Mark, looking a little panicked. The music plays softly in the background.

“How many people are going to be here?” Yukhei asks cautiously, eyeing the other cars. The hand holding Mark’s twitches a little, twisting his hand under Yukhei’s.

Instead of answering, Mark unbuckles himself out of his seat and lets go of Yukhei’s hand to open his door. When he steps out, the air is fresh and warm against his skin as he hurries to the driver’s side so he can bring Yukhei out.

His tan, large hands fill Mark’s as he pulls Yukhei out, warm callouses pressing into his smoother, unworked palms. Yukhei leans his weight on Mark when they close the door of the car.

The branches on the trees surrounding the property sway with the warm wind summer brings, blowing on Yukhei’s untucked shirt. To Mark, he looks like a floating soul dancing in the sun. A summer spirit.

Even with Mark supporting half his weight, Yukhei stands taller than him with only centimetres to seperate their eyes. So close and Mark could count the freckles on his nose, the ones that fan out onto his cheeks. Those fluttering eyelashes that beat like the wings of a butterfly. The anxious lines drawn on his forehead.

It’s a little scandalous the way they stand, Mark’s arm wrapping around Yukhei’s waist, when they’re just outside his parent’s house, but he thinks its okay.

“They’ll adore you,” he whispers, and Yukhei’s breath stutters.

Mark lets him dig his face into his neck. He can feel Yukhei’s hot breath bite at his skin, and under the hot weather it makes him squirm, but he makes himself last it.

Seconds pass with them like that.

“We should go,” says Yukhei to Mark as they pull apart, and practically peels the arms Mark has secured around him back to his sides. It makes him frown, but Mark chooses not to comment on it. He already has a million things running through his head.

Mark goes back to his side of the car to collect the cake with the small presents and stands again, holding it out to Yukhei. He thinks it’ll give him something to do with his hands instead of twisting them. Besides, Mark’s parent’s are very handsy. The second the door is opened, he’ll probably be hugged by ten people at once.

They walk up the marble (Mark thinks it's marble, at least) staircase and face the door together, taking in the carvings in the mahogany for a few moments before Mark builds the courage to ring the bell.

The sound buzzes in the air like an annoying fly circling around them, but it only lasts so long. Mark takes a deep breath in and raises his chin.

Suddenly, the door whooshes open and they’re left there staring at Mark’s very smiley mother, Iseul. The sound of the shouting kids can’t be heard when she squeals loudly, and Mark half thinks his mother has regressed into a teenage girl again.

“You’re here!” she shouts and immediately throws herself entirely into Mark’s wary arms, making him tighten them around her so they don’t both fall.

He looks to the side and finds Yukhei looking nervously over at the two, his face half bathed in humour and the other half concern over whether he was allowed to find it funny or not. Mark smiles at him before his mother can squeal again.

So maybe he hasn’t exactly caught up with his parents in a little while. He’s been so busy with the firm and looking after Yukhei and the house that he forgot there were other people he had in his life too. Donghyuck kept telling him that Mum and Dad were long waiting for his arrival at the house. It didn’t even seem pass through his mind that Donghyuck was telling him this, and he wasn’t even _related_ to his parents.

Surely that should’ve been the sign Mark needed to come back home.

“I missed you, darling,” she whispers a little gentler now that her arms are around him, but it softens his fixed expression and leaves him feeling a little more than guilty.

Mark lifts his eyes and finds his father walking up to them, and pushes out a hand to Yukhei first. He watches as Yukhei covers it with own bigger hand, smiling as he says hello. When Mark hears him complement his father about raising such a great son, he tunes out and turns his attention back to his mother.

Mark brings his arms down to pat her back and feels the soft silk material under his fingertips, grounding him. It takes him back years when his mother used to greet him the same way after coming back home from the bar with friends or a party, wherever he was. No matter how tired she was herself from work (she’s a thoracic surgeon), she put the same exact amount of energy making sure her son was greeted by someone. And it never mattered the time.

When he pulls away, Mark takes notice of the fine lines decorating her face, the ones makeup couldn’t erase. They weren’t there before.

“Eomma,” he says, and says nothing else. He’s not really sure _what_ to say.

Mark stands a little taller and tucks away a strand that escapes his mother’s styled bun. Little wisps of grey dot her hair and so he tries to ignore them, but it’s getting harder. She’s not young anymore.

Now, he can see his brother and Donghyuck standing in the middle of the entrance hall, Lily (his brother’s oldest child) not too far away either. They’re all smiling widely, glancing over Mark’s shoulder to Yukhei. They’re waiting for a proper introduction to the family. His father’s waiting too, most likely for his turn with Mark.

Iseul turns then to Yukhei, sporting the same amount of loveable energy when she moves over to him holding her hands out.

“Oh my, my son has chosen a fine one, hasn’t he?” she muses, smiling mischievously over to Mark for a moment. Mark feels himself smile.

Yukhei’s ears burn, unsure how to take the compliment, but takes it all in stride when he suddenly goes under her arms as well.

“Mum,” Mark whines childishly.

She ignores him with a wave of her hand and with the same one goes to pat Yukhei’s cheek affectionately. Iseul looks excited and happy, not the malicious forbidding mother Mark psyched her up to be on the way there. It looks like she’s welcoming two sons homes, and that hurts Mark the most.

How wrong is always is.

As Mark stares at the two and listens to his mother’s endless fire of complements, his father approaches him from the side, albeit with a little more hesitant steps than his mum. Mark turns to him when he clears his throat.

“Hi, dad.”

Hye is a kind man, but maybe not a family man. Satisfying the role as the head of the house had never been important to him, even from the start when that family was created. All that mattered to him was making a continuous income so his own family never had to live the same way he did when he was a child. Looking after his two sons did not involve matters of his company, and so he never bothered.

Mark doesn’t hold a grudge against him for that, he understands what it means to care and still make mistakes at the same time. Long ago, little Mark would’ve cared a lot, however.

This, sadly, has stinted their relationship as father and son a lot. Mark has grown too much to care now.

Hye looks over to his son and smiles with a strong mouth, placing a hand at the back of Mark’s neck. He squeezes down, making Mark tense under his hold. He matches his father’s smile.

“Welcome home, Minyhung. We all missed you very much.”

“Thanks,” Mark says instinctively, and he means it. He finds that he doesn’t mind his father’s touch as much, anymore.

Mark isn’t very good with words, hence why he chose to finish a writing degree. The opportunity to speak to his father freely has been so limited in his past life that now when he stands there, the two of them standing side by side, there is nothing else left to say. Saying hello is all that has to be said; Mark understands everything.

The moment Mark starts to actually relax in his spot Donghyuck decides it’s his time to greet his Mark and make a scene for himself because _that’s just the way he is_.

He sashays his way from the door in the hallway to the outside balcony area where they stand, smiling the way he can show off his pearly white teeth he spent so much money on. Mark was there for the appointment, held his hand and everything. (He won’t admit it ever, but he’s babier than his own daughter.)

When he gets to the entry area, Donghyuck practically twirls to Mark and places his hands on his hips. That smile stuck on his face doesn’t slip even a little.

“You’re a little late,” he says, raising an eyebrow as if he’s trying to accuse Mark of something. Mark matches his facial expression, mocking him.

“And I didn’t know you were going to be here at all,” he retorts.

“Anything for my favourite biffle.”

“I’m your only friend, Hyuck.” Mark rolls his eyes.

Mark feels like everything can go either two ways: the way he orchestrated the night to go in his mind and completely terrify both him and Yukhei, or it can go the way where everything is unpredicted, just like Donghyuck’s arrival to dinner. He hadn’t told Mark before hand.

As Iseul finally unravels her arms around Yukhei and pats his cheek softly, Mark nudges Donghyuck slightly in the ribs as a way of hello. He sees him from the corner of his eye look a little shocked by the sudden jab, but quickly reciprocates.

In the end, Hye has to pull apart his and Donghyuck until one is standing on each side of him. Donghyuck snickers under his breath, making Mark glare into the marble fixtures of the steps.

“I haven’t seen you in so long, Yukhei darling,” Iseul confesses, and Yukhei blushes even more, warming his cheeks. If they were alone, Mark would make sure to tell Yukhei how adorable he looks shying away from an older woman much shorter than him. He hears Donghyuck coo mockingly under his breath, earning him another nudge from behind his father’s back and a pained grunt with it this time round.

Mark’s father looks at them both a little disapprovingly and clears his throat, warning them to stop.

Being the shy and polite person he is, Yukhei bows to her and smiles, showing his gratitude. His hair almost reaches to the ground when he bends over, as a sign of respect. It makes Mark feel a little gobsmacked at that.

“It’s been a little while,” Yukhei murmurs, and Mark wonders what kind of magic his mother has spelled on him to be so plastic-y. The boy would melt right now if someone asked him to.

“A little while?” Iseul muses, laughing like it was a funny joke. “Darling, my son hasn’t brought you to me in _years_. The last time I saw you, you were the same age as my youngest grandchild, Elaine.”

Mark rolls his eyes and snorts, bringing a hand to cover his face away from the sun. “Yes, blame the son.”

“Darling, let’s not get dramatic now.”

Mark’s father coughs meekly in his, sporting the same almost smug look his wife wears as well. He waves a hand towards Mark’s direction.

“We’d have not known about you had we not been bombarded with Mark’s constant word vomit of adoration for you,” he says, and Mark feels his cheeks blaze red. Donghyuck doubles over laughing. “It got quite annoying really, coming to a time, and I say this as someone who was at work most of the time. At this point, you could quiz us and we’d know your entire life story. Especially, what brand of _underwe_ -”

“Okay, that’s enough!” Mark interrupts, jumping up to slap a hand over his dad’s mouth. Donghyuck was already on the floor with actual tears ruining his pretty eye makeup, but Mark just kicks him lightly in the back.

Yukhei looks at Mark, a little flustered at the admission, but he looks happy. Even if it was embarrassing, his father’s little escapade seems to relax Yukhei’s nerves. And it’s a good thing, because now Mark can actually take them through the _door._

Somehow, the cake seems to have lasted the whole ordeal and still sat perfect in the Tupperware container. Mark points to it and all eyes go the orange plastic of the container like flies to food. Well, it is food.

Donghyuck’s face lights up and practically jumps to take it out of Yukhei’s hands.

“Gingerbread cake?” He glances up to see Yukhei nod. “Can I eat it all?”

“No,” Mark interrupts quickly, knowing how serious he can be. Donghyuck ignores him again but Yukhei laughs anyway.

He shakes his head.

“No, but I made extra so you could take some for Bada.”

Donghyuck brightens impossibly more at the mention of his daughter (as he always does) and the brief hesitation is all Mark needs to pull him away. The container stays firm in his grip.

“Can we go inside so I can actually introduce my boyfriend, please?” Mark begs.

“No one’s stopping you darling,” Iseul says from somewhere behind him and he turns briefly to see Yukhei being guided gently to the door, a smile sporting both his lips and his parents’.

Mark looks forward and is still reminded that his brother waits for him and the _rest_ of the family most likely sitting in the formal room. He uses a hand to shoo his brother away, scowling when he doesn’t budge for a brief moment.

 _“Go back to the rest of them,”_ he mouths and _then_ his brother decides to go, pulling his daughter with him. She almost protests, but sees her uncle’s panicked face pinch even more and allows herself to be dragged by the wrist.

One step past the threshold and Mark already feels the cool air running through the house, which is much cooler than the sticky heat outside. He feels air conditioner spilling cold air around him and his body temperature quickly adapts. Mark shivers holding Donghyuck, and straightens his back.

Once all of them are inside the house and the door is closed, Mark lets go of his hold on Donghyuck and reaches out for Yukhei, pulling from his mother’s side to stand next to him. Yukhei looks only a little shocked when he does this, but relaxes quickly into Mark’s tight hold on his hand, breathing in sync as his father and mother walk through the hallway and into the lounge room where everyone else is waiting for them.

Before the anxiety can reach up to his neck again and choke him, Donghyuck turns to them and brings his two thumbs up, smiling encouragingly. He brings a hand to pat Yukhei’s shoulder, but he looks stupid doing it and puts it back down.

“It’s going to be fine, you’ve already met half of them before and the other half are gonna die in like the next ten years,” Donghyuck says, and Mark immediately whacks him on the head with his palm. He cowers under his assault, rubbing at the hit spot on his head. “Ow, what the fuck! Mark!”

“Don’t be an asshole.”

Yukhei shakes slightly with laughter, but Mark ignores it and just watches Donghyuck whimper a little, putting on a show just to seem weaker and gain Yukhei’s sympathy.

Mark pushes Donghyuck away, holding onto Yukhei tightly as he walks closer to the door holding his family. He can already hear his aunt’s laughter cutting through the children’s loud voices. Through the patterned stained glass, he can make out his mother’s standing figure holding a hand with her own mother, guiding her to a seat.

Mark swallows and lets out a shaky breath.

He remembers what Donghyuck told him. He rolls back his shoulders and grabs Yukhei’s hand.

He opens the door.

-

“So how long have you two been together?” Mark’s uncle asks as he reaches for another serve of lamb chops beside his wife. She brings the plate closer for him to take. “You two seem very comfortable with each other.”

Yukhei rustles beside Mark, squirming in his seat when eyes fall onto them. Mark puts his water glass down delicately.

Introductions hadn’t been bad (just like _everyone_ had told him) but it still hadn’t been the most comfortable situation to be in. His parents had told everyone before hand that Mark was going to bring his boyfriend, something that isn’t too drastic since everyone found out when a nosy cousin saw a post on Facebook and told the whole family.

Mark smiles to his uncle and puts his fork down. “Around five years?” he says, and looks over to Yukhei for guidance. He nods his head over his food, but doesn’t say more.

Mark’s head turns back when he hears his grandma splutter, coughing some of her water out. Hye has to pat her on the back until she isn’t red faced anymore.

“Five years?” she repeats, her eyes wide. “That’s a very long time for the family to not know.”

Yukhei chokes on his potato.

“Well, Eomma and Appa knew for a while, Halmoni,” Mark responds, feeling patient. “And William knew from the start.”

“Did Johnny know?” His aunt points to her son. Johnny sits on either side of his wife and Donghyuck, and stares up at the mention of his name. A half-eaten prawn hangs out of his open mouth.

Donghyuck scoffs, patting Johnny’s back when he face turns red.

“Auntie, come on. Mark literally grew up with him as his second father. Of course he knew.”

Johnny huffs over Lily’s giggling from the other side of the table. Her laughter makes her sister sitting next to her laugh as well, although she doesn’t why she’s doing so.

“I’m not his dad, I’m only four years older than him!” he exclaims, yet no one listens to him.

“So how come he never told us?” Mark’s aunt continues asking. Johnny and Joy looks both look scandalised.

“Mother!”

The conversation turns at that, and the table slowly clears out as more and more plates go empty and plates go full. It leaves Mark a little excited, because dessert at his parent’s house is always a highlight and with dishes from both Yukhei and his aunt (a home cook), Christmas is never better.

Pavlovas and lamingtons and trifles and fruits and all other sorts of dessert come out of the kitchen in their fancy dishes, one after another. The wine bottles with only droplets of wine are emptied into some of the adults glasses and they so are also taken away, replaced by dessert wines Mark assumes were chosen by their cook, as well as some cold beers. Always either a Corona or Peroni.

Watching this unfold, it makes Mark feel like a child again, where the Christmas dinners were bigger when their cousins from Canada and America (Mark’s cousin’s Mina and Jungwoo were the only ones he’d play with, all the other ones were either too old or too young. William always hung out with Johnny and their step-cousin, Antonio) would come over for the hot summer and they’d all celebrate together. Those days were usually spent by the beach as they watched the tide go up and down the entire day. Mark wanted to live by the beach because of that.

He pats Yukhei on the shoulder to get his attention, and lets his hand linger there, feeling the light fabric stick slightly to his hand. He feels hot under his palm but Mark finds it okay when Yukhei turns to him and smiles.

“Can you pass me the raspberries, please?”

It’s all fun and nice, and Mark gets the berries for his boyfriend. His best friend sits next to him, and then his cousin next to him too. His brother sits opposite him with his wife and daughters and it feels like how it’s supposed to be, so he feels like he can finally relax.

With the sun still high in the sky, everything feels perfect. He can feel the faint touch of the warm breeze hit him, tickling his hair.

A small flock of birds land on a tree nearby, kookaburras, and Lily runs after them, sweeping up her plate with her so she can eat it beside the fountain. Elaine runs right after her, squealing to catch up.

“Don’t make a mess!” William shouts after his daughters and they all watch them leave, skipping towards the trees. Mark almost wishes he could do the same just as he used to when he was younger.

After Lily and Elaine leave, the attention goes back to Mark and Yukhei. The space feels a little different than before.

William’s wife starts, folding her napkin in half on her lap discreetly. “So,” Indie says so politely, and her smile is so kind, empathetic. She watches the two look at her, patient. “When did you guys meet?”

The question is expected and Mark nudges Yukhei under the table for him to answer. His parents would scold later on if he doesn’t speak at all through out the dinner.

“Um,” Yukhei starts, as if he doesn’t know what to say. Mark nudges him again but a little harder, and this time Yukhei fights back. But then his elbow hits Mark’s ribs and his knee jerks up as a reflex, making a noise under the table. The entire family looks horrified.

Mark wonders what they think they were doing.

“Sorry, my knee was cramping,” he tries, smiling back at all of them, but they all just stare back at him like he’d just announced his engagement.

Well. Maybe next year.

Yukhei at least has the decency to look just as mortified as the rest of them, and collects himself by sitting upright in his chair, putting a hand behind Mark’s own.

He clears his throat and continues on. “We actually met in kindergarten when we were really little. I’ve known him longer than even Donghyuck has.”

Donghyuck, being the dramatic best friend he makes himself to be, doesn’t like that piece of information coming up, and grumbles in his seat. He mutters something like ‘ _being replaced, huh,’_ under his breath.

Mark snorts into his napkin, but he lets Yukhei continue speaking.

“We were friends then, I guess, but we actually met each other again when it turned out we went to the same uni and had mutual friends.”

“I was one of them,” Donghyuck butts in, trying to regain his friend status. Johnny pulls at his hair and everyone ignores them.

“We met when I still dating my girlfriend and-”

“So he’s not gay!” Mark’s grandmother shouts in victory, nodding like she was waiting to have him for herself. Mark didn’t know what he’s supposed to think of that, and just sits back in his chair, looking out to the big peppercorn tree beside the house.

He thinks of all the times he used to climb up the trunk and all the way to the top, racing with Donghyuck and Jaemin to see who could climb the highest in a minute. And all the times his grandma or William would find them and shout at them to get down.

His mother fights with his grandmother now, speaking in rushed Korean as if the rest the of them can’t understand. Yukhei can’t, and neither can Mark much when they speak fast, but he gathers that his mum is trying to say something and defend him.

Everyone avoids the argument and look away. His uncle reaches for more cake that Yukhei gladly gives him.

_“I’m just so surprised that Minhyung brought a boy home! Why would he do that?”_

_“Mum, because he loves the boy! It’s not something you get to decide! In fact, it’s none of your business. Just be the grandmother he knows and loves.”_

_“Minhyung knows better.”_

_“Mum, just leave it.”_

Mark’s glad in that moment that Yukhei never really got past saying the very basic things in Korean when he tried to learn off Jeno and Jaemin, because he’s not really sure what he’d do if he understood. Like this already, everyone sits in their seats, all tense and unmoving, and Mark is trying his best not to feel heartbroken at his own grandmother’s words.

No one tries to stop her. They all just listen. Perhaps they agree too, and they’re just too cowardly to say it. None of them look at Mark sympathetically, or console him. Maybe they think he doesn’t understand. He doesn’t know if that’s even worse.

“Can we just finish the rest of the food?” Mark breaks the space’s silence, and addresses the whole table. His eyes travel all around the table and back.

He can feel Yukhei’s hand firmly settle on his thigh, but for once it doesn’t calm Mark the way he wants it to. Still, he lets it sit there as he waits for the rest of them to pay attention to him.

Hye looks unsettled when he meets his son’s eye, like he feels there’s nothing he can say but Mark doesn’t blame him. If he could speak up himself, he would. His aunt lifts up her wine glass and holds it out for a toast.

“To Yukhei and Mark for making our Christmas a little more magical.”

Everyone lifts their glasses with her, and they toast the night in the middle of the table, ignoring a slightly sulking grandmother in the corner. She doesn’t join in with them, but she doesn’t look severely upset either. Maybe some other day Mark would come and visit her and they can talk. Now though, she can enjoy herself and the napkin she kept folding and unfolding. The crease lines are clear now.

They cheer and Yukhei and Mark bring their glasses together, clinking the wine just below their bright eyes. The sun reflects in them, twinkling the bright light coming in from the top of the alfresco covering. If Mark draws closer to Yukhei, he’ll find his youthful face staring back at him, mouth wide.

For the time being, Mark allows himself to forget about all the bad things circling in his mind. He wants to focus on them.

The knife for the pavlova falls into his hands and he turns to Yukhei, smiling. He draws the white-covered knife to his face.

“Want some?” he asks, tilting his head slightly as he points to the half gone meringue sitting in the middle of the table. Yukhei smiles politely and nods. He draws his hands to his lap, nursing his wine glass in both of his palms and focuses on not tipping it over.

Mark then tasks himself with trying to carefully reach over with the knife in his hand and cut two slices for the both of them. He puts some raspberries and sliced strawberries on his plate and then only raspberries (Yukhei doesn’t like strawberries for some reason), reaching out to the little sauce dish next to it to drizzle some passionfruit pulp on top of both of theirs.

He smiles sheepishly at his mother when he stumbles as he brings the plates in front of them.

“Here you go, babe,” Mark says to Yukhei, who nods kindly and thanks him before grabbing his fork and digging right in.

After Mark settles down in his seat, he blushes upon realising how unconsciously domestic he’s being in front of them rest of his family. He knows it isn’t a bad thing, but it’s never been something he recognised in their relationship right until he has Johnny snickering to his side and his mother smiling like she’s won the lottery.

It’s a feeling to get used to, he realises as leans back into the wooden backing of his chair, but it’s a nice one. It’s nice to know that your affections aren’t guarded when you feel that they should be. He’s realising now that when you love someone, it’s alright if the whole world knows.

The whole world _should_ know. Especially when Mark is as lucky as he his with having Yukhei Wong as his own.

When the green tea (grandma’s little touch) is brought out and the wine glasses are taken away, Mark pushes away from the table and goes to kiss Yukhei on his head, telling him he’s just going to go and help his mum with the dishes.

Yukhei looks up at him and smiles, only an ounce of nervousness fleeting behind his eyes.

“Go, I’ll be fine,” he says, pushing Mark away from him when he hesitates. “Donghyuck’s my friend too and your cousin is really funny.”

Johnny looks at Mark then, all smug. “Damn right I am.”

That prompts Mark to follow after his aunt and take the rest of the empty dishes and plates to the kitchen, laughing with her when Lily goes running after his mother’s small poodle, yelling at him to, ‘give me my hair tie back, Elliot, I need it!’

The kitchen isn’t as crowded as Mark thought it’d be when he enters, thanking his dad when he holds the door open for him. There’s only some dishes in the sink and leftovers already packed in their glass dishes ready to go into the fridge sitting on the marble island. His mother stands by the sink, conversing with his aunt and his father just left.

Mark furrows his brows when he comes closer to them. “Where’s Harriet and Mr Broussard?” he asks as he gently puts down the dishes in his hands.

Iseul turns to him when he speaks, regarding him softly.

“Both of them went home to their families, darling,” she says, reaching over to open the water faucet. Mark’s auntie starts placing some of the pans into the water while opening the dishwasher underneath it.

“I thought Mr Broussard doesn’t have family in Melbourne?”

“Well, you haven’t been here for a little while, Minhyung. If you’d come home then you’d know that our beloved chef got married two years ago and is spending his daughter’s first Christmas with them.”

That’s surprising news to Mark. His eyes widen.

“A baby?! Pierre is only like five years older than me, why would he have a child?” he asks bashfully, making both his mother and aunt laugh lightly.

Iseul smiles softly at her son, looking him up and down in a lazy sort of inspection. He finds that he doesn’t mind; it feels like she’s just checking up on him.

She rolls her eyes, looking back down at the sink. “Mark, you’re twenty-four already. I don’t think twenty-nine is the worst age for having a child,” she says without looking at him. “Even twenty four is a good age to get married and settle down.”

The implication is there, Mark becomes aware of that instantly. Even his aunt who’s been quiet for the whole conversation gasps a little in her spot, eyes flitting between him and his mother quickly. When she squeals afterwards, Mark realises her gasp was not one of confrontation but one rather of excitement.

It seems the whole family has been catching up on the topic. The only surprised person in the kitchen is him when he steps back and drops his jaw, unable to say anything as he just stares at his mum’s smug face.

“I- well, Mum!”

She turns to him and smiles innocently.

“Yes, darling?” she answers. Mark huffs, annoyed at her lack of response.

He turns to his auntie, eyeing her a little madly. She swallows thickly, swiping her bleached blonde fringe away.

“Aunt Eunhae, can you tell my mother that if she wants to plan a wedding for her child, she might want to ask William to re-officiate his vows with India. I’m sure her parents will find the sentiment… _interesting._ ”

 _“Iseul, Minhyung says that if you want him-”_ she starts saying, switching to Korean, when Iseul puts up a hand to stop her. Mark can faintly hear the sound of Yukhei’s laughter mixing in with Donghyuck’s voice through the window, though he can’t see them past the leaves obscuring the view.

She shakes her hand. “I heard my own son, Eunhae. Don’t be stupid,” she says.

It has Mark’s aunt spluttering and crosses her arms in front of her, lightly offended by the words, but she stays silent from then on. Mark has to stifle his giggles with his hand as he watches her rub her red gloss on her lips together aggressively, lifting her head high.

Then his mother turns to him, hand on her hip like she’s ready for another day at work. And when the doctor side comes out of her, well, quite frankly Mark hates her.

Taking a step forward, Mark takes a step back in time with her. He looks down at their feet, shuffling his shoes against the ‘expensive’ wood (he’s been told off too many time for that). When he faces his mum again, her eyes are still kind, but they cut through diamonds.

And his bullshit.

“Listen to me, my darling boy,” she starts, turning off the tap running next to her. The sink is full now, but Mark refuses to look at it. Yukhei always does the dishes at home because Mark can’t handle gross things.

There’s actually a lot Mark can’t handle, but he’s becoming better at it, he thinks. His family thinks so too, even his friends. But sometimes it’s harder and right now is one of those times.

Hands come and rest upon his shoulders, anchoring Mark to the ground as he stares right into his mother’s eyes, waiting for something. She squeezes the tense muscles under her palms, gathering Mark’s breath.

“You think too much about the ‘what ifs’ to actually focus on what’s actually happening in the moment. You always have to prolong everything because without doing so, you think everything is just going to fall apart,” she says and she smiles too, but Mark doesn’t feel anything from it.

He sighs, slumping into her hands. “Mum…”

“I know you want to marry him, don’t you?”

The question startles him away from her and his eyes go wide when he stares at his mother. Behind them, Mark’s aunt bites her lip anxiously, continuing to put the plates and cutlery in the dishwasher whilst still listening.

Does he want to marry Yukhei? He’s already spent five years with him, two of that living in the same home.

Mark loves Yukhei. Isn’t that enough?

“Yeah, I do.”

But still, he imagines Yukhei in that white tuxedo, smiling at Mark like he’s the sun. He wants all his family and friends to see how happy they can be together. He _wants_ to call Yukhei his husband.

He wants it badly.

Mark’s mother smiles at him knowingly and caresses his cheek, swiping her thumb under his eye gently. She looks at him so fondly, eyes twinkling as she smiles.

“My lovely little boy,” Iseul says, making Mark’s heart lurch behind his ribcage. Tears well in his eyes that he fights to keep back. “Don’t be afraid of anything, just be happy. You don’t have to do anything now, or ever, but just make sure you live your life the way you want to.”

The conversation ends when the sliding door next to the breakfast table opens and Donghyuck enters looking a little more than full. He smiles at the three of them, albeit a little queasily, and waddles to one of the chairs in front of the island.

Iseul eyes him humourlessly, moving away from her son so she can pick up the scourer sponge and starts scrubbing the pans.

“Had too much?” she asks. Donghyuck groans in response, sliding his body entirely over the small table with his face down. Mark doesn’t bother to muffle his laugh as he watches him struggle.

As they grow up, getting the opportunity to see Donghyuck at his lowest becomes rarer and rarer. Especially once one of them becomes a dad and suddenly is the epitome of responsible.

Mark walks over and sits down next to him, patting his back in mock sympathy.

“I told you not to have the trifle and the pavlova _and_ the cake,” he says, laughing. “Why did you think you could handle all of it?”

Donghyuck huffs a, “fuck you,” in Mark’s general direction and lets his head fall to the table again. Mark’s mother and aunt crack a laugh behind them. He stands up and goes back to helping them.

Slowly, more and more people file in, and the door just stays open as they clear the table completely and clean it up.

(“I’ll do it. Stop, Mark!” Yukhei yells as he tries to pull away from Mark’s grabbing hands that reach to take the spray bottle and paper towels out of Yukhei’s grip.

“You’re a guest, you shouldn’t do it,” Mark argues and tries unsuccessfully. He’s practically hanging off of him.

“Babe,” Yukhei growls. “Just let me impress your parents, for fuck’s sake!”

In the end, Mark sits there in one of the empty seats pouting as he watches Yukhei clean with a childish grin on his face. The pout soon fades away the moment Yukhei finishes and comes over to where he sits, bending down to give a passionate kiss on his lips.

When he pulls back, Mark pushes him away bashfully to turn to the glass windows that connect the outdoor area to the kitchen and living room. He sighs in relief when no one is looking their way. Yukhei only laughs at his reaction and prances back inside making Mark trail unhappily after him.)

(“You ain’t as slick y’all thought,” Donghyuck whispers into his ear as he passes him in the kitchen. Mark’s ears are bright red by the time he safely locks himself into one of the downstairs toilets.)

An hour later and everyone is seated around the large Christmas tree that’s lit up with all sorts of decorations and lights, and the closest window is closed to allow the tree to shine.

On the floor, Mark sits next to Yukhei and Donghyuck and the three of them laugh as they watch Johnny try and disentangle himself from his wife’s earring pulling on his shirt. Even Lily, who’s snug between her parents with her phone in her hand, laughs as she watches her uncle (she’s calls him uncle) flap around with no where to go. Johnny’s mother has to come in at one point to free the both of them, shaking her head disapprovingly at the two when she walks away.

“Those two are gonna have a fight about it when they get home,” Donghyuck leans in to Mark to whisper in his ear.

Mark snorts, earning him a side glance from Yukhei. He smiles back at him, squeezing his shoulder reassuringly.

“When are they ever not?”

The room silences as Mark’s grandmother walks in and all heads turn to her. Mark still feels awkward after what happened during dinner but puts it to the back of his mind for the time being. He ignores it for the sake of his family, as well as him and Yukhei.

When his own mother enters the room finally, she comes and guides Mark’s grandma down to sit beside her and Hye on the couch facing the younger ones. The entire time, his grandma keeps her gaze stuck on Mark, an impassive face taking over. Mark doesn’t know what she’s thinking.

“Present time!” Iseul exclaims, expelling any tension in the room. Johnny claps his hands excitedly and the whole family laughs at his antics, even Yukhei joins in.

Everyone takes out their own gifts to give to the children (that’s their tradition) and Mark pokes Yukhei gently for him to reach to the side and grab their nicely wrapped ones as well. They spent the whole of yesterday after dinner wrapping all the gifts, sharing a wine bottle lazily. Mark loves it all.

“For Lily and Elaine,” Iseul announces and passes her and Hye’s gifts to the two girls, who grab them excitedly. Then, Donghyuck passes over his and so does Mark with theirs while Johnny whispers something in Lily’s ears as he shuffles over his presents into her lap, making her giggle into her hair. Beside her, William smiles appreciatively at his cousin and combs his fingers through his daughters hair.

“Go ahead,” Indie says, gesturing to the presents in front of them.

The two girls waste no time tearing away at the wrapping. The adults watch all amused as Elaine gasps when she spots the magic sand pack in her lap and Lily practically squeals despite her age when she holds up the entire Harry Potter special collection set.

“Thank you!” The two exclaim and their parents laugh with them, clearing away the paper as more presents are opened. Little Elaine runs over to hug both Yukhei and Mark especially when she opens up their gift and finds two new baking books Yukhei had been adamant every beginning cook had to have. Apparently the little girl has been really interested in spending time in the kitchen lately, begging her parents to let her use the fire and knives so she can make _cookies_. Maybe one day she and Yukhei can spend some good bonding time baking together. He could teach her, too.

Mark laughs when she barrels into their arms, both of them wrapping around her tiny body.

“Your welcome, Ellie,” he says, pulling away to give a kiss on her cheek. She squeals when he does so but refuses to leave then until Yukhei does the same. Mark watches mesmerised when his boyfriend giggles into his hands before shyly giving a small kiss on the other side of her face.

When she prances back into her seat and continues opening her gifts, Mark slides his hand onto Yukhei’s lap to take his own and squeezes it. He doesn’t miss the side smile Yukhei gives when he does so.

As the girls slowly finish their little haul, Iseul stands up again to grab their next gift. She smiles and gives it to Donghyuck.

“For Bada.”

Everyone knows that Bada is Donghyuck’s little girl from his ex-wife. After a long argument about what they would do, he was forced to let his daughter spend both Christmas Eve and Day with her mum while Donghyuck had to figure out what to do for himself. He didn’t have a family (they died when he was twelve) and his boyfriend had already booked a singular ticket back to China for the holidays.

So, Donghyuck comes back home to where he grew up. With Mark.

Mark hands over his gift for his niece as everyone else does and Donghyuck looks slightly flustered receiving so many gifts for his daughter. After such a long and heart-aching divorce process, it’s very easy for Donghyuck to get emotional about Bada.

He makes a pile next to him on the floor and thanks everyone for their considerate gifts.

Next, Johnny and his wife get their gifts from the adults only, smaller more expensive presents that the two accept gratefully. Joy comes over and kisses both her mother and father-in law on the cheek. Her long black nails dig into Johnny’s thigh when she comes and sits back down.

(“He’ll always be a baby in my eyes so of course he gets gifts!” Mark’s auntie exclaims, huffing when her son’s cheeks go red. Joy cackles from the side, her long red nails gripping into Johnny’s shoulder.)

(“Mum, I’m almost thirty!”)

(“Hey, why don’t me and Indie get gifts tonight?!” William exclaims jokingly, puffing his chest out dad style. Elaine giggles in his lap and snuggles her face even further into his chest.

“You’re so old, daddy.”)

Eyes naturally travel to the trio on the floor when they become the last ones to open their gifts. In the years Mark has strayed from home for Christmas, the gifts have always come before or afterwards Christmas, or even through post. Last year, Donghyuck was the one to bring his parents presents to him.

This year is thankfully different, Mark tells himself, and pulls back the largely wrapped box put in front of him. It’s nice to have his family around him to watch as he unwraps the twine. It’s also kind of anxiety provoking.

Both Yukhei and Donghyuck pause their own unwrapping as they watch Mark separate the torn paper from the plain box.

He opens it and grins, eyes going bright.

“Woah, thanks Mum and Dad!” he lets out, and pulls the record player away from its packaging. He allows Yukhei to push away the box so he can set it down properly on the ground.

Mark has been wanting one of these for their house for a while, and had even whined about it on the phone with his mother months ago. His friend, Jaehyun, is a huge fan of vinyls and made him fall in love with the idea of having one of his own. It seems he just never got round to it.

“Your aunt and uncle’s gift will go well with this, I think,” his mother explains, and grins, enjoying her son’s sparkle of happiness. She laughs when his head turns their way, watching as his uncle passes over a thin parcel.

It’s a bunch of the latest vinyls, some of Mark’s favourite artists put on records. He squeals when he files through them, his voice sparking with each one he flips through.

Mark jumps on his feet to run to his parents and his aunt and uncle, giving them each a big hug. He feels elated by the time he sits back down in his spot, watching as Donghyuck and Yukhei thank the others for their gifts.

He leans into Yukhei’s side, nudging his shoulder gently.

“What you get?” he whispers, and smiles behind his hair. It guards him from the adults when he presses a kiss to Yukhei’s ear, earning a slight shiver in his neck. Mark pulls back to look him in the eye.

Yukhei brings the cufflinks and cologne in front of him.

“I really like the smell of that.” He points to the bottle and opens the lid again, bringing it for Mark to smell.

“That’s an expensive brand,” Mark spectates, taking the cologne out of Yukhei’s hand to look at it closer. “Who got it for you?”

Yukhei hums and looks around the whole room. “Your parents, I think.”

Mark opens his mouth to thank his parents for Yukhei’s gift but someone else calls his name from the other side of the room before he can. He looks up then, eyes politely searching for the person who called his name.

His grandmother sits up and looks at him. It was her who called his name.

 _“Minhyung-ah, come take me to the kitchen for a second,”_ she says to him, speaking in Korean. The rest of the room falls silent as she speaks. It’s almost like everyone’s holding their breath, waiting for _something._

She holds out a hand for him to take and lift her up.

Mark has no other choice other than to follow her words.

He stands up, almost falling over when he bumps against Donghyuck but Yukhei holds out a hand for him, stabilising him. He doesn’t know what Mark’s grandmother said to him, but still his face is serious.

Many things wash through Mark’s mind as he approaches his grandma, eyeing the outstretched hand carefully. The first thought is whether she’s going to shout at him and curse at him for being gay. Even though he doubts that’ll ever happen, his mind is the perfect breeding zone for overthinking.

The second is what she wants with him. He’s never really been the favourite child amongst either parents or grandparents. He accepted it a very long time ago. If she wants to tell him something or give him a gift, why not William?

No one moves as Mark takes her delicately aged hand in his own and helps her stand up with him, keeping his other arm wrapped around her shoulders to stabilise her.

“Are you okay?” he asks her, tilting his head to the side to take her in as she shakes her head and allows his hands to fall from her sides.

“Just take me.”

As the sun _slowly_ starts to set, the hallway lights up with the decorations, guiding them straight to the kitchen. The sun still hits the ends of the room when they enter, blinding Mark’s vision when they pass through it. It lights up his skin into a light brown.

Mark guides his grandmother to one of the tables in front of the kitchen island, and takes a seat next to her without saying anything. He refuses to speak until she does.

 _“Your mother tells me that you love the boy,”_ she starts, and it’s strong. Mark’s glad he’s sitting down because he doesn’t know what he’d do had been standing up. He doesn’t expect her to say something like that. He should’ve, however.

He clears his throat quietly. “ _Yes.”_

_“She says you’ve been together for a long time as well.”_

Mark nods with her words, silently thanking his mum in his head. _“Five years is quite long, yes.”_

 _“She says that you want to get married,”_ she says to him, acting as if her words hold no meaning. They’re so easy to say.

He swallows under her scrutinising gaze and looks away. He watches the leaves on on trees sway instead.

“My mother says a lot of things,” Mark tells her, but he doesn’t deny it.

His grandmother doesn’t look impressed with his words, and he shifts uncomfortably in his seat. “Your mother is usually right.”

Perhaps its the fact that his grandmother hardly ever speaks English when she doesn’t need to, or the disapproving face she gives him, but the nervous energy in Mark doesn’t hold anymore and sends him shuffling to the shelfs in the kitchen.

 _“Minhyung, what are you doing?” s_ he asks him sternly, watching as he skates around the room, opening and closing different cabinets in search of whatever he’s looking for. He wants to make hot chocolate despite the warm heat. Mark finds that he’s been craving it the entire week.

 _“Grandma,”_ he says but he doesn’t look at her. He finds the chocolate bars he’s looking for in one of the drawers and takes them out. _“If I wanted to marry him, what would you do?”_

The answer is fast coming, like a blade.

_“Then I’d give you the family ring.”_

The stack of chocolate that Mark held falls out of his hands, breaking into pieces on the ground. He hardly even notices it even as he watches them fall.

He blinks, once, twice, and yet he still can’t comprehend what he’s just heard.

“What?!”

Mark’s grandmother is relatively calm in comparison to him, however his nervous energy does ignite the room in a way that can’t be ignored. She stares at him as he scrambles to pick up all the broken chocolate pieces slowly melting on the ground, cursing under his breath for being so clumsy and destroying most of their supply.

When he rises up again, his eyes instinctively gravitate to the shining ring that now sits on the table, the clasp of the emerald box left open for him to see. He walks closer to inspect what he saw glimmering before.

There’s a stone as big as his pinkie finger sitting in the centre, as green as the box. Tear shaped diamonds accent each side of the emerald, crowning it and the band of the ring is a deep gold, making the whole piece breathtaking as Mark looks at it in awe.

“This was yours?” He looks up, watching his grandmother’s face morph into one of longing the more her gaze stays on the ring.

Eventually, her eyes stray away from the ring and looks up, regarding her grandson in a way Mark doesn’t think she’s ever done before.

She sighs, reaching for the small velveteen box. It snaps shut when she holds it and brings it close to her chest.

“Once upon a time. Now…it collects dust in the family’s bank safe.”

Mark only ever met his grandfather thrice before, and he was a baby when that happened. He doesn’t remember anything about him and the only thing he can hold to him is the multiple photos Mark’s been shown throughout his life.

It’s hard to make a connection with paper.

His grandma on the other hand is a different story. As a child, his father was usually stuck in the office and his mother was always in theatre, at least four days of the week. His dad didn’t trust that they have a babysitter and so the simple solution for him and his brother was that their grandparents look after them. This shaped up his entire childhood.

Mark doesn’t blame his parents, in fact, he loves his grandparents with all his heart. But as he grew up, the time he spent with them dwindled and they aged. The boy he was isn’t the man he’s grown up to become.

Sometimes, he forgets that. It’s easy to fall back into a time when everything was so simply good, and to a child’s eye, perfect.

Learning that the people that raised you aren’t what you thought they were is a different type of heartbreak.

Now, Mark watches his grandmother, and feels sympathetic. People always told him even as a little boy of the love stories about his grandma and late grandfather, and it became a thing of blind admiration. Everybody in the family wanted to attain that sort of love for themselves.

He’s starting to see now in front of his eyes what those stories really meant.

Mark sighs and sits back down, ignoring the things he left on the counter. He only reaches out and takes her hand, feeling as it fills half of his. “ _Grandma_.”

“Hmm?” She looks ups. He smiles at her, but it remains thin on his lips.

“Were you truly in love with grandpa?”

The question makes her smile, a truly happy one that Mark doesn’t often see anymore. He figures that’s on him for not being around as often as he should.

“ _I was, very much so,”_ she says, and almost like she’s in a dream she falls back into her chair. It’s her reminiscing. _“You know he used to buy flowers coming from work every single Thursday?”_

Mark shakes his head. _“No, I did not know that.”_

Following along with her own story, she nods her head. She sighs and looks away into the setting sun, watching all the twinkling leaves with the breeze outside. It’s a calming sight to watch.

_“Well, he did. And every single time, there would be a little note written in it, even if it was on scrap paper or an old receipt. It was the most romantic thing to me.”_

_“I can imagine that it was, grandma.”_

_“Does your Yukhei do the same thing?”_ his grandmother asks him. Mark blushes under the question, going a bright red. He has to swipe at his cheeks to properly speak.

He can’t stop thinking about the ring she holds.

 _“Yes, sometimes,”_ Mark says, clearing his throat. He looks down at his hands in his lap, wringing them anxiously. His heart ticks in his throat. _“Yukhei is a baker so he brings a lot of things home. Sometimes he’ll spend a little extra time in his bakery making me a special cake, the ones he knows I like the most.”_

 _“That’s a very considerate thing of him to do,”_ she says, nodding in approval. Mark doesn’t think he knows the weight of what that approval means until it hits him right in the face.

Laughter travels through the hall from the family room, crashing into the kitchen right where Mark and his grandma sit. It fills the space with noise where they keep quiet, listening to the children test out their new gifts while everyone else tries to help them set them set it up.

Mark can’t help but feel envious of everyone else living so free, enjoying their time with the rest of the family. Here, he has to wait for his grandmother to either give him a Christmas miracle or that he’s a disgrace for ever loving a man. And he doesn’t have that patience.

When she relaxes back her hold on the emerald velveteen box however, Mark quickly realises that it isn’t going to be the second outcome at all.

His eyes widen as he watches his grandmother loosen to grip on the ring’s box and lets it sit on his lap, resting on top of his tightly shut legs. He doesn’t say anything besides stare at it and feels the intrusive light weight balance between the small dip partings his legs.

Mark still hasn’t fully processed it when he looks up and widens his gaze on his grandmother’s tiny figure, the one that sits opposite him in the chair. She stares at him, regarding him gently.

Someone once told him that he resembles his grandmother more than anyone else ever did in the family. Mark wonders now if that’s what she’s seeing as she gazes back at him.

“What is this, grandma?” he asks, forgetting for a second that he’s speaking in English, but he doesn’t mind it much.

_“Propose to that boy if you love him. Make him yours.”_

_Make him yours._ It makes sense, doesn’t it?

Still, Mark has a problem.

 _“Grandma…”_ he hesitates, wondering if this is a good idea after all. But he needs to ask, for his own sake. _“At the dinner table, you didn’t seem very happy about me bringing Yukhei home. What’s with the sudden change of heart?”_

Everything is moving way too fast for Mark, and as someone who usually lives his life at a slow place, all of this is making everything seem unpredictable. He felt awful at the table listening to his grandma and mother argue, but now? Suddenly the family ring is about to belong to him.

His grandmother listens and nods, and _actually_ takes his words into account.

 _“It’s not that I’m not happy about it, Minhyung-ah, nor was I surprised,”_ she says, fiddling with the button on her top. She sighs deeply and looks to him. _“I’ve known that you liked boys from when you were a teenager. Remember that boy you always used to bring around and say you guys were just ‘studying’?”_

She’s talking about Thomas from Trinity. Mark remembers him well. They didn’t even go to the same high school, thinking about it now.

“Yes, what about him?” Mark thinks he knows where this is going.

He’s proven right when she laughs at his response, her eyes crinkling and closing with the impact.

_“Do you know the amount of times I caught the two of you doing inappropriate things because you forgot to lock the door in your haste to do whatever the two of you did?”_

Mark goes red in the face instantaneously, suddenly remembering all the things the two would get up to when the doors were closed. But obviously not _locked._

 _“Grandma,”_ he whines, and he feels like a child again, getting embarrassed at the little things his parents used to do to annoy him and his brother whenever they spent time as a family together. It’s very reminiscent of that feeling.

_“I’ve had years to get used to the knowledge that my grandson can like whoever he wants, that’s not the problem.”_

“Then what is?” Mark asks, confused _._

 _“Do you know how long it’s been since we’ve truly been together as a family like this?” s_ he asks, and now she looks pained, not like the laughing woman she was only seconds before. It ages her face in ways Mark thought he’d never see. _“I haven’t had the opportunity to see my lovely grandkids together with my own children in such a long time, and do you know who’s fault that is? Yours.”_

Marks feels the guilt wash over him, but there’s nothing to do about it when he looks down at the tittering box still sitting on his lap. What’s done is done, yet he knows he can change the future.

Still, he feels his grandmother’s pain when she looks over his way and he sees the anguish in her eyes. He knows how much pain he’s brought his family even if they don’t like to express it.

_“Grandma-”_

_“Do you really love that boy more than your entire family that you couldn’t afford to see us more? Is that what it is?”_

_“No, it isn’t-”_

_“Why couldn’t you come see us, Minhyung? What is it something he told you, that boy of yours?”_ she asks.

Yukhei is good, Yukhei is kind. Yukhei only ever helps others.

 _“_ NO! _No, that’s not true!”_ Mark shouts and he doesn’t care if the others can hear him. He won’t let false accusations about Yukhei pass through. Not when none of its true.

“ _Then what is it?”_ She looks pained, hurt. _“What made you turn away from your family?”_

Mark snaps.

_“I was scared! That’s why.”_

Steps sound at the entry of the kitchen and Mark looks up to find Donghyuck there, leaning on his feet awkwardly as he waits.

“Uh, sorry to interrupt, but I heard someone yelling?” he asks, looking from Mark to his grandma and back. “Is everything okay?”

She turns at Donghyuck’s voice and smiles at him, not looking like the broken person she showed to Mark before.

“Of course, darling. Go back and spend some more time with the family and we’ll be right there, okay?”

If Donghyuck sees the small box lying on Mark’s lap, he makes no reaction to it and nods. Then he gives the two of them one more glance before walking back down the hallway, leaving them alone once more.

Mark lets out the breath he doesn’t know he was holding.

_“I never thought I was doing harm by not going to family gatherings if I wasn’t comfortable with it. Especially when I frequently come to see you and my parents out of those times. I never thought it mattered.”_

His grandma raises an eyebrow.

 _“You never thought it did harm? All your relatives think there’s something wrong with you every time your mother has to make up an excuse for you to say that you’re not coming,”_ she says, clicking her tongue. _“I don’t know why she still does it when everyone knows by now that you’re never going to come.”_

 _“I’m sorry, grandma.”_ Mark lowers his head shamefully. He hears his grandmother sigh.

“Let’s forget about that for the mean time,” she says it in English and gently lifts up his head with a finger under his chin. He feels it hook under the bone. _“We can talk about it later. Right now, I want to give you this.”_ She taps the top of the ring’s box gently. Mark’s eyes flit down to it.

“Why give it to me? Why didn’t you give it to William or Johnny, or even Yeri’s fiancé to propose to her with?” he asks. Mark furrows his eyebrows together, confused. “They all have wives and this is quite a feminine ring, plus it’ll need to be adjusted to fit Yukhei’s finger.”

She pushes a hand in the air as she scoffs. _“Who cares about how masculine or feminine the ring is. The colour’s pretty and your boyfriend has a very nice skin colour. It’ll go perfectly on him.”_

 _“And the others?”_ Mark asks.

_“Wooseok was given your other grandmother’s ring, the one passed down from your mother when your father’s parents gifted it to him. Plus Youngho didn’t want any ring, so I didn’t bother. Yeri got a necklace from me instead.”_

Mark exhales when she finishes speaking. “So that leaves me.”

His grandmother nods. _“That leaves you. And you deserve it, don’t think that I think you don’t. Don’t make it an excuse either.”_

That makes Mark laugh despite it all. He holds onto the ring so it doesn’t fall off his lap.

“You sound too much like mum, halmoni,” he says lightheartedly. She grins with him.

 _“_ Well I am her mother after all.”

Mark is happy, although very surprised and overwhelmed with everything that’s happened in the past half hour. Christmas turned into something entirely different to what he imagined in the beginning. Now he has a ring to propose to the love of his life to.

It’s not the gift he was expecting, but it’s the one he’ll cherish till the day he dies.

No one stops him when the tears start falling from his eyes, feeling the sudden burst of happiness overwhelm his mind. He brings a hand up to cover his face, sticky tears falling down the sides of his palm.

He’s going to marry Yukhei Wong. It’s going to happen.

Mr Mark Wong. Mr Yukhei Lee. 

“Thank you, grandma, thank you so much.”

She smiles to him and reaches out a hand to cup his cheek. She brushes his tears away.

_“You’re very welcome.”_

_-_

“What took you so long?” Yukhei asks as soon as Mark enters the family room again, reaching out to grab his hand. “The girls wanted to show how Elaine’s castle thingy works.”

Mark, who, went into the bathroom straight after leaving the kitchen to wipe his face ten times over and crept to the car to hide the, smiles innocently at his boyfriend, allowing himself to be pulled down back to the carpet where the big play set is being built by Elaine’s enthusiastic yet clumsy hands.

Yukhei hands him the instruction book and points to the numbers on the side.

“Mister publishing firm, please turn into a builder for a day. Thank you very much.” The girls laugh when Yukhei puts an imaginary safety hat on Mark’s head and taps the air as if he’s knocking on the plastic.

So Mark sits there and destroys the castle more than he helps build it (“I told you, I’m bad at construction!”), but he has fun being around his family. He laughs when Johnny comes crawling to help them but Joy pulls him back his belt, making him fall flat on his face in front of the entire family.

The weather is warmer when the whole house roars with laughter, Mark realises, and feels that he’’l never be able to match this feeling of family for a long time.

But he’ll remember it, and he’’l cherish it.

Who knows, maybe someday he’ll be the one the leading the Christmas dinner with his own family and grandchildren. With Yukhei sitting right next to him, cutting the turkey.

That sounds amazing, doesn’t it?

**Author's Note:**

> and yes, donghyuck's boyfriend is renjun ^^
> 
> (if it wasn't clear, mark suffers from a mental disorder that's not disclosed. just keep that in mind)


End file.
